


Initiation's Not Just For Gangs Anymore

by goddess_julie



Series: More/Everything [8]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Genderswap, Kid!Fic, Kidfic, girl!Louis, girl!Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 22:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2709293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddess_julie/pseuds/goddess_julie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perrie suggests that she meets all of Niall's friends.  They have a dinner party.  Elsa is sick.  Louis is exhausted and Perrie is more nervous than Niall feels she should be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Initiation's Not Just For Gangs Anymore

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place about two months after Blondes Having Fun. Elsa is just under a year old. Thanks for those still reading and enjoying.

They’ve been dating for about two months when Perrie thinks it’s time that they meet the friends. Niall has met Perrie’s roommate Jade numerous of times. He’d officially met her the night of their second date when Perrie had cooked for Niall. Before she left them alone, Jade sat Niall down and gave him the third degree to make sure she felt comfortable leaving her best friend alone with her new potential beau. Since then, they’ve all hung out at the girls’ flat as well as gone out for dinner and drinks a few times. Perrie has met Zayn of course, being that it was her who had set up their first date, introducing the two to one another and keeping close contact with Perrie. But she hasn't met everyone, and definitely not all together.

It had been Zayn’s idea to have a dinner party. Initially the plan was to go out for dinner and drinks, be in a social setting that was comfortable for everyone. Unfortunately, Elsa had come down with the sniffles and neither Harry nor Louis had wanted to leave her with a sitter but they hadn’t wanted to cancel the get together. It was Zayn who decided to move the venue from a pub to their house. Niall and Perrie both tried to convince the group that they could reschedule, but Harry admitted that as long as they didn’t mind a sickly Elsa curled up against her mama all night, the dinner would go on as planned, just with a change of venue and a home cooked meal.

For as insistent as Perrie was to meet the people most important to her boyfriend, she admitted on the drive to Harry and Louis’ house the night of their dinner that she was nervous. 

“You’ll be fine babe,” Niall assured her with a squeeze of his hand on her knee. “You know Zayner, and she’s usually the hardest one to win over. So if she likes you, you’re money.”

Perrie shook her head. “But Louis and Harry Ni, you talk about them so much, how brilliant Harry is in the studio and just how aces Louis is. They’re so put together, practically married and so… I don’t want anyone to think I’m not good enough for you.” Her lip was red from where she’d been biting it.

“You’re mad, they think the opposite actually. They practically know you from how much I talk about you. And why wouldn’t you be good enough for me?” Perrie was endeared at the genuine confusion on her boyfriend’s face, as though he didn’t understand what she was so worried about.

“I just … I don’t want them to think that I’m …” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I just want them to like me.”

“They’re gonna love you. Zee already thinks you’re awesome. Not to mention she thinks you’re hot.” Niall gave her a grin as she blushed. “I’m serious. Described you as the hot chick with the great rack that night at Hazza’s.”

When they pulled into Harry and Louis’ driveway, Perrie waited until Niall had put the car in park and turned off the engine before reaching over to kiss him deeply, licking into his mouth.

“And you Mr. Horan? Do you think I’ve got a great rack?”

Niall licked his lips as he brought his hand up to Perrie’s breast, squeezing it playfully. “Feckin’ right I do. Big enough for my hands, small enough to fit me mouth on them.”

Before they could go any further, a knock on the window startled them apart. Perrie jumped away while Niall gave a groan of disappointment.

“Fecking cockblock,” Niall hissed, palming himself gingerly. He looked up to see Zayn grinning at him through his window.

“If I don’t get to have sex before this meal, you two sure as hell aren’t,” she said with a wink. Perrie slowly climbed out of the car, pulling Zayn in for a tight hug.

“Hey Per, looking good!”

Perrie looked down at the dress she was wearing, blushing at the other girl’s compliment.

“She designed it,” Niall bragged as he thread one arm through his girlfriend’s and the other though his best friend’s. 

Zayn stopped, her jaw dropping as she pulled Perrie in to look at her closely. She made the blonde turn around fully so she could get the entire view of the dress. “Are you serious? You designed this?”

Niall nodded while Perrie shrugged. “I’ve been working on a few things. My boss said that if I could give her a few mock ups and designs, she’d see about getting them made and put into the store. This was one of the first dresses I’d designed. She wants to start doing made to order clothing for high end clients who are willing to pay extra for an original.”

“Fuck, we are definitely going to have to talk. Now come on, Leeyum is probably shitting bricks because I’m late and Lou hates it when we’re not on schedule.”

She wasn’t sure what she expected upon entering the house, but to have everyone stop and stare at them was very unnerving. Harry had been in the middle of saying something, Liam was stirring something on the stove and Louis was gently rocking a crying baby, cooing softly at her.

Even the baby stopped crying for a moment when they entered the kitchen. As quickly as everything stopped, the baby began to howl and Perrie felt her stomach churn with nerves.

Zayn walked through the kitchen to kiss Liam on the mouth before grabbing a glass and bottle of wine off of the counter. Harry looked as though he was about to say something when the baby in Louis’ arms gave one last howl before vomiting all over her chest and the floor.

Niall squeezed Perrie’s hand gently, he pulled her close as though he could feel just how anxious she was. In fact she felt for Louis’ daughter and thought if the baby hadn’t beat her to it, Perrie was just about to do that exact same thing.

“You must be Perrie,” Harry broke the silence with a smile, stepping around the counter to shake Perrie’s hand.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“I’m Harry, this is Louis and this puke monster is Elsa. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Perrie looked at Louis who was standing in the middle of the kitchen, still dripping with Elsa’s vomit, motionless in her spot.

“I’d shake your hand but I’m covered in vom,” Louis spoke, her voice without emotion. She let her gaze travel up and down Perrie’s small frame before walking past them and out of the kitchen.

“Don’t mind her,” Harry said without skipping a beat. It’s been a long day, she’ll be fine. They both will.” His eyes flickered towards the entranceway from the kitchen to the hall where Louis had gone up the stairs, probably to the bathroom to clean them both up. He didn’t look to confident in his claim but Perrie only shook her head and smiled.

“It’s okay, thank you for having me over to your house Harry.”

Perrie looked over at Zayn who was whispering softly to Liam, trying to maintain some type of normalcy in the kitchen. It was clear that an air of awkwardness had settled over them all.

“We could have rescheduled H,” Niall sighed. “If this is …”

“No. She’s been looking forward to this. We’ve all been looking forward to it, it’s just… Don’t take it personally Perrie. It’s just the first time El’s been sick like this and it’s hitting her harder than I think she realizes. Or will admit.” Harry turned his attention to Perrie and gave her a genuine smile. “Wine? Beer?”

“Wine please,” she replied softly. Niall gave a short chuckle and pushed past Harry to get their drinks. 

“Sit with Li and Zayn babe, I’ll get it.”

While Harry flittered around the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on their dinner the five of them enjoyed easy conversation. They talked about how Zayn and Perrie met, how the whole gang all became friends and how Niall had roped Harry into working for his record label and Zayn and Liam’s comic shop. Perrie’s hand was nestled tightly in Niall’s and the way he stroked his thumb against her palm did wonders to ease her nerves. She enjoyed seeing how happy Niall was, having all of his friends there with them, everyone getting along and the easy laughter that flowed through them. His eyes were twinkling, his cheeks rosy from laughter and it hit her right then that she would do anything it took to keep that expression on his face.

Each time Harry afforded himself a glance into the hall, Perrie can’t help but worry about Louis who still hasn’t come down. Each silent conversation she sees Liam and Zayn share, looking between her and Niall she wonders what they’re all going to say when she’s gone. When Niall leans in and whispers into her ear “you okay babe?”, brushing his lips against her cheek when she nods and nuzzles his jaw, she feels something burst in his chest, her stomach fluttering in response.

I’m just going to put this on the table and check up on Lou…” Harry said as he transferred the pasta from the pan to a giant serving bowl. 

Before she can think twice, Perrie got to her feet. “I … I need to use the loo,” she admitted. “I can let her know, if you’d like?”

The hesitation was clear on Harry’s face, a look of surprise etched in his green eyes.

“The bathroom is the third door on the left at the top of the stairs,” Niall said. “El’s room is across the hall, Louis will probably be in there with her.”

Perrie doesn’t want to go if Harry isn’t comfortable with it, so she waited until Harry gave her a smile and a shrug. “Let her know if she’d like she can come down, if not I’ll bring her something up.”

Perrie’s head bobbed in a short, jerky nod before she headed towards the stairs. When she got halfway up, she could hear Louis’ voice softly signing. The song sounded familiar to Perrie, something she’s probably heard before on the radio but just hearing Louis’ voice had her holding her breath. Louis’ voice is beautiful and instead of heading to the bathroom, she quietly made her way to the room Niall told her was Elsa’s.

You tell me that you're sad and lost your way  
You tell me that your tears are here to stay  
But I know you're only hiding  
And I just wanna see you

You tell me that you're hurt and you're in pain  
And I can see your head is held in shame,  
But I just wanna see you smile again  
See you smile again

Louis was sitting in a rocking chair, moving back and forth with Elsa on her lap. The small girl has her head tilted so that she could look up at her mama, as if enchanted by her voice and the words being sung to her. Perrie understands completely how Elsa feels. She wants to let Louis know she is there, but doesn’t want to interrupt the song.

But don't burn out  
Even if you scream and shout  
It'll come back to you  
And I'll be here for you

Oh I will carry you over  
Fire and water for your love  
And I will hold you closer  
Hope your heart is strong enough  
When the night is coming down on you  
We will find a way through the dark

I wish that I could take you to the stars  
I'd never let you fall and break your heart  
And if you wanna cry or fall apart  
I'll be there to hold you

 

Louis must sense that they’re no longer alone because without breaking her stride in the song, she looked up to meet Perrie’s gaze. She’s not sure what she should do, if she should excuse herself and leave Louis alone with her daughter or stay. Before she can make a decision, Louis gave her a nod of her head, as if to invite Perrie into the room, into this moment she’s having with Elsa who still hasn’t taken her eyes off of her mum, as if she can’t believe just how lucky she is to have this woman holding her, caring for her. Loving her.

You tell me that you hurt, it's all in vain  
But I can see your heart can love again  
And I remember you laughing  
So let's just laugh again

But don't burn out  
Even if you scream and shout  
It'll come back to you, back to you

Oh I will carry you over  
Fire and water for your love  
And I will hold you closer  
Hope your heart is strong enough  
When the night is coming down on you  
We will find a way through the dark

And you don't need  
You don't need to worry  
And you will see it's easy to be loved  
I know you wanna be loved

 

When her voice trails off, they’re left in silence. Before she had come upstairs, Perrie would have expected it to be an uncomfortable silence, but it’s the exact opposite. She finds herself kneeling down beside the rocking chair, extending the fingers of her hand for Elsa to take and grab onto. Elsa is sucking enthusiastically on her dummy, eyes tired but open.

Perrie’s heart flutters when the baby girl reaches for her, gripping her finger in a vise like grip. “May I?”

Louis let out a relaxing sigh and smiles. “Be my guest.”

It takes a little bit of shuffling before Perrie can get a good, strong hold on Elsa, the small girl curling immediately into her embrace and settling down. Perrie rocks her gently, stroking the back of her neck through her soft downy hair at her nape.

“You’re stunning Elsa,” Perrie coos at her. “Absolutely gorgeous, aren’t you baby girl?”

She gets a gurgle through her dummy in response. It’s clear that her stomach still isn’t settled and Louis makes a move to take her back, halted when Perrie shakes her head. 

“I don’t mind,” she says softly so as not to disrupt the baby. “If you’re okay with me holding her, I’d like to hold her a bit longer?”

“If she pukes, I will not be held responsible.”

“Duly noted.” Perrie holds her breath, only smiling when Louis grins at her like it was the exact right thing to say.

“I reckon you can stay,” Louis begins to say before she’s cut off by Harry joining them at the door.

“Babe?” It’s clear he’s surprised at the sight of Louis sitting in her rocking chair alone, ratty tee shirt and trackies on while Perrie who is wearing what is obviously a nice dress, holding their daughter as she rocks her back and forth.

“She offered,” Louis says, by way of explanation, holding her hands up in defense.

“She might…” 

“It’s okay,” Perrie is quick to assure Harry. “I was given full disclosure of what I was signing up for when I picked her up.” She watches as something in his expression changes as he is stepping forward to press a kiss to his daughter’s forehead.

“Fever broke.”

Louis just nodded. It’s blatantly obvious how tired she is and something in Perrie wants to pull her close and give her a hug.

“Come down, dinner’s ready and Niall’s about to chew off his arm.”

The three of them all laugh knowing that Harry isn’t entirely exaggerating. 

“May I?” Perrie doesn’t want to assume she has full reign on holding Elsa, so she only feels it proper to ask.

Harry looks to Louis who shrugs as she stands up. “She’s all yours princess, let me know how it works out for you.”

With that, Perrie is left alone with Harry in Elsa’s room, the two staring at each other.

“Is she…?”

Harry can only laugh, the sound catching Elsa’s attention who claps tiredly and coos through the dummy still in her mouth. He leans forward to kiss his daughter on the forehead again, grinning as she grabs his hair and pulls.

“That means mummy likes Auntie Perrie doesn’t it?” He says to Elsa as he leads Perrie back down the stairs to the dining room. She still hasn’t gone for the wee she’d gone upstairs for, but doesn’t want to put this precious girl down to do so. “She wouldn’t let Uncle Nialler or Leemo hold you for ages, so Auntie Perrie should know how special she is.”

The reality of Harry’s confession is obvious when they walk into the dining room. Louis is sitting at the table beside Niall, across from Zayn who is laughing at something she’s saying. Louis’ laughter rings through the room, happy and light, a vast difference from when they’d arrived earlier. Their jaws drop when Harry leads Perrie in, their eyes focused on Elsa who is in Perrie’s arms.

“Shit,” Zayn says under her breath. She turns to Niall and laughs. “Does she even let YOU hold her yet?”

Perrie watches Niall’s cheeks turn a dark pink, pride evident as he looks at her holding Elsa. As she approaches the table, he pulls her chair out for her to sit. There is still an air of surprise around the table. 

Irritably, Louis speaks up. “Stop staring at the poor girl. I’m bloody hungry. I’d like to have a meal where I’m not feeding someone else between every bloody bite. She was there, she offered. End of story. Anyone have a problem?”

Four sets of eyes stare back at Louis, all of them shaking their head as if to say “no”.

“Good, now Harold spent a lot of time making this dinner, the least we can do is bloody eat it while it’s hot.”

Conversation is in full swing before Perrie feels Niall’s hand on her lower back, between her and her chair. Elsa is drinking a bottle of juice that Harry had brought for her when he’d gone in for another round of drinks for everyone. It was as Louis and Liam were talking about song lyrics that Niall leaned in to press a kiss to the lobe of Perrie’s ear.

“Don’t let her fool you babe,” he said softly. “That she let you hold her at all, let alone for this long means the world.”

Perrie can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride at his words. Although Niall had always insisted that it was Zayn’s opinion that mattered most, she is fully aware that it’s Louis that they all look up to. She’s their unofficial leader, the one who has the power to make or break her. Louis is Harry’s world, Zayn’s confidant, Liam’s partner in crime and the one that Niall will turn to when he’s got a problem he really needs advice on that he knows the others just won’t be able to understand.

With a light press of her lips to the crown of Elsa’s head, she matches Niall’s grin. It’s not until she raises her eyes that she sees Louis watching her, blue eyes cool and expression unreadable. Perrie’s pulse races and she raises Elsa’s hand as though to wave at her mum.

Smiling, Louis rolls her eyes and blows her daughter a kiss. 

The dinner dishes had been cleared and Elsa had long since fallen asleep in Perrie’s arms. She hasn’t relinquished her hold on the angel even though she’s aware that her parents know she’s asleep. Finally though, Louis has decided it’s time to put her into her crib for the night. Careful, so not to wake Elsa up, Perrie transfers her into her mother’s arms and watches Louis kiss her daughter’s forehead. Although she’s been across the table the entire night, barely a few feet away, Louis holds her like they’ve been separated for hours, like she hasn’t seen her in longer. Louis informs the table that she’ll be back down when she’s done, but as she gets to the foot of the stairs, she turns back to everyone and takes a deep breath.

“Nialler?”

Perrie holds her breath. Judging from Zayn’s expression, she is too.

“Yeah Lou?”

Louis gives Perrie a calculating once over, she looks as though she’s choosing her words wisely and Perrie can’t help but be nervous.

“You better treat this one right, I like her. She can stay.”

The room lets out a collective breath, and Perrie will admit she let out an anxious whimper. For the first time all night, she can let herself fully relax.

By the time they’ve finished desert and told as many embarrassing Niall stories as everyone can remember, Perrie wondered why she was ever nervous in the first place. Harry had given Louis the rest of the night off from Elsa duty and she declared that she was going to get right plastered. Zayn, never one to let someone drink alone, pledged to join her on her mission. Perrie had politely declined but agreed to have one last drink to celebrate her initiation into their gang.

“I don’t have to bust a cap in anyone’s ass do I?” she’d asked. When they all looked at her, she shrugged. “I mean, I will. But if I don’t have to… I’d rather not.”

“YOU,” Louis whisper yelled so she wouldn’t wake Elsa up. “Can stay. Did I say that Nialler?”

“You did Lou, a few times.”

“Shut it Payno,” Louis swayed as she flipped Liam off. “Talkin’ to Nialler, not you.”

Niall laughed as he pulled Perrie closer, nestling her to his side. “You did Loubear.”

“Good, now get the fuck out of my house, all of you. I have to go check on my baby, then take Harold upstairs so we can fuck. All. Night.”

Behind her back, Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes. He mouthed at the group that she’d be out light a light in fifteen minutes. One by one, Louis went around the room, patting them all on the head and pressing a messy kiss to their foreheads. When she got to Perrie she stopped and regarded her with a seriousness that hadn’t been there a moment before.

“I like you Pezza.”

“Pezza?” Zayn questioned.

“Did I stutter?” Louis was still staring directly into Perrie’s eyes. “Pezza. I like you. But if you fuck Nialler over, I’ma fuck you up. Hard. Don’t make me fuck you up. Kay?”

Perrie could feel Niall try to hold in his laughter. She didn’t crack a smile. Perrie only nodded sagely. “I promise.”

“Good. Now give us a kiss and then get the fuck out of my house.”

She barely held her wits as Louis laid a smacking kiss onto her mouth before dancing out of the room towards the stairs. “Let’s go Harold. Off to bed with us.”

“Let yourselves out everyone,” Harry groaned and got off the couch. “Perrie, thank you for coming over. Thank you for everything.” He looked towards the stairs where Louis was leaning down, a giant grin on her face. “I… “ He only shrugged and exited the room to Louis’ quiet cheers.  
They said their good nights to Liam and Zayn, with promises to meet up for a double date sometime in the near future.

“So,” Niall asked as they drove towards his house. “You staying over?”

Perrie nodded. “Yeah.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how likely are you to pull a runner tomorrow? You know, after meeting my friends?”

Perrie opened her eyes wide, exaggerating shock. “Did you not hear Louis? She’ll fuck my shit up if I screw you over. You’re stuck with me forever.”

They both laughed as Niall sighed in relief. “Great, that usually scares them off. Finally got it to work.”

She nervously played with the ring on his finger. “I really like them. They’re great, and they care about you so much. I’m glad they liked me.”

“Told you that you had nothing to worry about Pezza,” Niall teased. 

“I just know how much they mean to you. How much you mean to them, I just wanted to make a good impression, have them think I’m good enough for you.”

“Never any doubt babe. Now,” Niall’s lips curled into a sexy grin, his eyebrows wiggling seductively. “Let me take you back to mine and I’ll show you just how much I like you!”

“I might need a lot of convincing,” Perrie warned.

“Challenge accepted.”


End file.
